VIFF 2012

The Vancouver International Film Festival has come and gone, and this is what I have to show for it: 52 films of varying length, many of which will never ever land in a theater near me. Follow the links to the various films I have written reviews for, and, over the next month or so, I will toss out some left over reviews from the fest, as well as chip away at writing about those that topped out my experience. Here's a list of that 52, ranked in order with my favorites at the top.

1. Leviathan, Lucien Casting-Taylor, Véréna Paravel (USA/France/UK)
2. Three Sisters, Wang Bing (China/France) 2x
3. Tabu, Miguel Gomes (Portugal)
4. Neighboring Sounds, Kleber Mindonça Filho (Brazil)
5. Walker, Tsai Ming-liang (Hong Kong)
6. Emperor Visits the Hell, Li Lou (China) 2x
7. Capsule, Athina Rachel Tsangari (Greece)
8. The Last Time I Saw Macao, João Pedro Rodrigues, João Rui Guerra da Mata (Portugal)
9. No, Pablo Larrain (Chile)
10. When Night Falls, Ying Liang (China)
11. small roads, James Benning (USA)
12. In April the Following Year, There Was a Fire (Thailand)
13. When the Bough Breaks, Ji Dan (China)
14. Long Tou, Gu Changwei (Hong Kong)
15. Memories Look at Me, Song Fang (China)
16. Lawrence Anyways, Xavier Dolan (Canada)
17. Barbara, Christian Petzold (Germany)
18. Reconversão, Thom Andersen (Portugal)
19. In Another Country, Hong Sang-soo (South Korea)
20. People’s Park, J.P. Sniadecki, Libbie D. Cohn (USA/China)
21. If It’s Not Now, Then When?, James Lee (Malaysia)
22. Egg and Stone, Huang Ji (China)
23. Dust, Julio Hernández Cordón (Guatemala)
24. A Fish, Park Hong-min (South Korea)
25. This Ain’t California, Marten Persiel (Germany)
26. Sleepless Night, Jang Kun-jae
27. My Way, Ann Hui (Hong Kong)
28. McDull: The Pork of Music, Brian Tse (Hong Kong)
29. Morning of Saint Anthony’s Day, João Pedro Rodrigues (Portugal)
30. The Love Songs of Tiedan, Hao Jie (China)
31. The Metamorphosis, Yun Kinam (South Korea)
32. Leones, Jazmín López (Argentina/France/Netherlands)
33. Mystery, Lou Ye (China/France)
34. Together, Rox Hsu (Taiwan)
35. Amour, Michael Haneke (France/Germany/Austria)
36. You Are More Than Beautiful, Kim Tae Yong (Hong Kong)
37. Like Someone in Love, Abbas Kiarostami (France/Iran/Japan)
38. Reality, Matteo Garrone (Italy)
39. Paradise: Love, Ulrich Seidl (Austria)
40. Something in the Air, Olivier Assayas (France)
41. Camel Caravan, Gao Feng (China)
42. Midnight’s Children, Deepa Mehta (Canada/India)
43. Grandma Lo-Fi: The Basement Tapes of Sigridur Nielsdóttir, Orri Jónsson, Kristín Björk Kristjánsdóttir, Ingibjörg Birgisdóttir (Iceland)
44. All Apologies, Emily Tang (China)
45. Design of Death, Guan Hu (China)
46. The Hunt, Thomas Vinterberg (Denmark)
47. Antiviral, Brandon Cronenberg (Canada)
48. Werewolf Boy, Jo Sung-hee (South Korea)
49. A Story for the Modlins, Sergio Oksman (Spain)
50. Garden in the Sea, Thomas Riedelsheimer (Mexico/Germany)
51. As Luck Would Have It, Álex de la Iglesia (Spain)
52. Nameless Gangster, Yoon Jong-bin (South Korea)